Describe your Capstone Challenge and how you identified it.
The capstone challenge I Identified was the lack of communication about Important events and Issues that frequently come up within our district but receive little publicity or notice. Policy changes happen frequently and are rarely addressed or acknowledged by admin or the board until it Is too late to stop. There are also important meetings open to members that they often miss simply due to a lack of awareness about them. I noticed our association often relies heavily on word of mouth communication and it has proven Ineffective. In particular, I consider myself highly engaged and informed, plus my status as a rep and my close friendship with board members keeps me in the loop. However, I was missing meetings I would have happily attended, and finding out about suggested policies well after my voice could have influenced them. I also noticed the effectiveness of the MFPE Rapid Response Team and how it not only helped to mobilize membership, it worked well as a simple notification system. Even if members do not actively participate, receiving the emails from RRT leaves them with more knowledge on an issue. Those who can't attend In person are at least empowered to send an email or letter to the decision makers. I decided a rapid response team, just for BEA members, may be beneficial.
Describe your diverse stakeholders and how you selected them, such as colleagues, parents, students, association members, community members, state or local partners, etc.
The stakeholders for this project are the members of the Billings Education Association (BEA). The Billings Education Association represents over 1100 educators working for School District 2 in Billings, Montana. The primary label for these stakeholders Is association members but they also fall under the category of colleagues, parents, and community members.
Why is it important for your diverse stakeholders that the Capstone Challenge be addressed?
The BEAs power and effectiveness come directly from the engagement of its members. Incresing communication leads to increased engagement. In an educational environment that so often feels like educators or on the defensive, a local RRT would hopefully serve to provide our stakeholders with more autonomy and a larger voice on the issues that directly effect their day to day lives.
In what ways will addressing the Capstone Challenge promote or support the foundational competencies?
This Capstone Project will support the Group Process Foundational competency by working directly with members on communication skills via email, letter, or personal voice and involvement. This will also Improve the Individuals leadership and communication skills through diverse communication styles. The project will support Interpersonal Effectiveness Foundational Competency because It improves the effective communication with colleagues in order to build empathy, humility, and trust. It also generates a forum leading to a discussion of the issues our members care about.
Is it your intention to broaden the existing vision, values and/or culture of the association or to create a cultural shift? Explain.
My goal Is to broaden the existing vision, values and/or culture of the association. According to the BEA website, Its six stated goals are:
An independent, united teaching profession
Professional excellence
Economic security for all educators
Adequate financing for all public education
Human and civil rights for all educators and children
Leadership in solving social problems
A rapid response team would be able to directly address these Issues at a local level, just as the MFPE Rapid Response team does at a state level. It would provide a vehicle for lobbying for or against specific policies and Inform members when these Issues are being addressed by school administration, local law-makers, the school board, or any other policy makers.
Why might this strategy be a viable solution for your Capstone Challenge?
I feel this strategy would be a viable solution for my Capstone Challenge because I have seen how effective it is at a state level. If this strategy can be so effective on a large scale with a set of stakeholders as large and diverse as the MFPE membership, there is ample reason to believe it can work on a smaller population whose needs are more narrowly focused on the issues surrounding education specifically. Based on informal interviews, many members thought it would be a helpful solution with little commitment and extra time required on their part.
On which two Overarching Competencies will you focus in addressing your Capstone Challenge? Why are they relevant?
This project will focus on the overarching competencies of Interpersonal Effectiveness and Group Process. I feel that they are critical to the success of any labor union. Unions such as the BEA seek to help their members achieve a working environment that benefits the employees in a manner that is fair. They support members in communication when there is often a disparity in power between employee and administrator. They negotiate a contract that is fair. And unions facilitate growth and change using the power of effective Interpersonal communication and the power of a group. These two competencies directly relate to the structure and function of the association.
If your foundational competency is not Explore and Challenge Inequity, please explain? Why is it important?
I chose not to directly focus on Explore and Challenge Inequity but it is still certainly being addressed by the project. I felt that many BEA members were not able to engage with the association at the same level as myself do to communication barriers and the time/work it takes to stay informed. That, in and of itself, was an inequity. By created a more streamlined and easily accessible communication method, it helped correct some of that issue. It eliminates the need or requirement for members to search out information on their own regarding local issues and what the association is doing or where it stands. A rapid response team provides greater access to that information by giving it directly to members In a manageable format. It doesn't completely eliminate the disparity because it would be purely voluntary and an opt-In method, but it would reduce it by providing access to a greater number of individuals who did not previously have it. I did try to reach our to diverse stakeholders both at the high levels of the association and those who are members but who do not have much involvement beyond paying dues and getting emails.
Which Leadership Pathway competency will you focus on in your Capstone Challenge? Why is it relevant?
The Leadership Pathway I will focus on with this challenge is Association Leadership. It is particularly relevant because In the current educational climate, teachers are feeling Increased pressure from outside forces who lack the understanding of an educators role In the classroom. Teachers are reporting a greater amount of stress and burnout from attacks on education. All while often receiving very poor wages compared to other full time, highly educated professionals. Unions and associations are often the strongest line of defense for those teachers and employees. They negotiate fairer wages and better working conditions, they stand up for and behind employees In the face of attacks, and they help prevent and defend against harmful policies that are creating such an extreme level of dissatisfaction.
With whom will you work in addressing your Capstone Challenge? Who else might you recruit beyond your own cultural and/or professional identity group?
Primarily I will be working with members of the BEA Board of directors such as the president and secretary. Once the project Is up and running, I will reach out to members directly for them to sign up and utilize the resource. If this project Is successful, Ideally I would like to expand It to our other local unions that we work directly with such as the Billings Classified Employees Association and the Local 7770 who are all employees within Billings Public Schools but are not teachers.
Which resources (such as, people, money, programs, time and space, etc.) do you have to address in your Capstone Challenge? What resources will you need? How will you obtain them?
One major benefit of this project Is that it should be cost free or extremely Inexpensive as it is simply a matter of creating a list serve and deciding who is going to take on the responsibility of managing it. I have already reached out to MFPE President Amanda Curtis about the Idea and she agreed to help us model It after the same method MFPE uses for their rapid response messaging system. If we decide to expand it and add a petition or prefilled letter system, that may require a membership fee to the online services that do that. Time Is the biggest factor, the BEA president and I are still trying to find time to get it up and running. As I am unable to maintain it after it is set up, I am hopeful that another board member or member would be able to handle it once it is up and running. That is perhaps my biggest barrier.
Evidence #1: Needs Assessment
List the priority needs that emerged in a tentative order of most to least critical. For each:
List all possible causes that could be addressed through an action plan
Describe consequences if the need is not addressed
Determine the difficulty level to correct the problem: low, medium, high
Determine the critical level from 1-5 (1 is least critical, 5 is most critical)
5-Lack of engagement from the majority of our members because they are too busy or they simply do not prioritize the work of the union.
4-Lack of knowledge on work that needs to be done. Busy lives with too many other higher priority needs. No one has directly informed members of what needs to be done and how members can help.
The consequences of these issues are a decrease in membership or a loss of power within our union. The BEA’s power comes from its members support which includes a financial piece but also requires active participation.
Medium difficulty in addressing the problem.
Determine the general or specific cause(s) of the high priority needs.
The high priority needs are driven mostly by society's burdens on teachers. Our members have not only a lot to juggle with their professional lives, but have robust personal lives to manage as well. Often asking them to take on more work for the union or to even keep up to date on what’s going on is too much. It’s not that members don’t care, the issue is just that they are overwhelmed and it’s hard to stay on top of it all.
What conclusions can you draw from what you learned?
I learned that there are tools and resources to help. I also learned that people want to be more helpful and involved, they just need the terms made simpler and more direct.
How does the work you have done thus far advanced your knowledge and/or skill in the areas of your two overarching competencies?
I think the work I have done thus far has helped me quite a bit in my knowledge of how to be a better interpersonal communicator and how to improve the group process. I have gained better insight on what works communication wise and what does not and I have also learned how to streamline group processes a little better.
Evidence #2: Research Articles and Success Stories of Union Advocacy
NEA Advocacy Victories: https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/action-center/our-victories
MFPE 2023 Legislative Scorecard: www.mfpe.org/2023scorecard/